US Coast Guard to stop search for British sailors by midnight Friday

Hull sighting: On Saturday, a cargo vessel, the MV Maersk Kure, spotted and photographed an overturned hull, pictured, which matched the description of the Cheeki Rafiki but reported no signs of people on board.

MailOnline

U.S. Coast Guard Captain Anthony Popiel said last night 'If by midnight tomorrow Friday (US East Coast time) , there are no further developments to indicate search efforts would locate the (Cheeki Rafiki) crew alive, we will suspend the search. Until then our focus remains with this very active and dynamic search.

It is notable that the resumed search which has covered another 17,500 square miles has failed to find the upturned hull photographed by the container ship MV Maersk Kure last Saturday.

Swan 45 World Championship at 2013 Gazprom Swan European Regatta.

Nautor's Swan/Kurt Arrigo

The 40-foot (12-metre) Beneteau 40.7 yacht was returning from a regatta off the Caribbean island of Antigua when it began taking on water on Thursday, some 1,000 kilometres (620 miles) east of Cape Cod. The crew communicated with the owners that they had the water flow under control and were diverting towards the Azores.

It is believed that the four crew, skipper Andrew Bridge, 22, and crew members James Male, 23, Steve Warren, 52, and Paul Goslin, 56 would have had plenty of time to get the boats 12 man life raft on deck and don life jackets before the boat apparently lost its keel.